Changes
by keitaya
Summary: One choice...


Not mine. Just having some fun.

"blah" speech

'blah' thoughts

* * *

'What the hell? Where is Ginny? His Ginny that he loved… hang on… something doesn't feel right…Ginny Weas…Potter… why am I thinking of her as a Weasley? We have been married for sixty odd years and I suddenly forget her name? Where am I? Oh smeg it all! I know this place. This is the cupboard under the stairs. What the heck am I doing here? Ok… think logically…the last thing I remember is eating dinner… hmm… it did taste a bit strange…. Oh no, she didn't! She wouldn't! But how did I end up here? If I am dead this sure isn't heaven. I still fit and there is still room to move a bit so I can't be an adult.'

A voice Harry had not heard in over 60 years suddenly called out "Up...get up you lazy freak."

'Not Aunt Petunia! This is a nightmare… yes a nightmare…. And I am going to wake up now…Now…NOW…oh Smeg Off! This is real?' Harry thought pinching himself repeatedly.

The door was flung open and a hand reached in and pulled Harry into the hall way.

"Listen and pay attention freak. If it was up to me you would be in that cupboard until we could kick you out into the gutter where you belong. But the law says that you have to go to school and the neighbours will notice if Dudley does and you don't so here is what is going to happen. You will walk to school every morning, you will not do anything there. You will pretend that you don't exist. You will not eat anything and at the end of the day you will walk back here and do the chores that I give you. You will not speak to anyone and I have already told your teachers that you are retarded. They believe me so don't bother trying to change their minds. Get going boy. If I get a call because of you then your uncle will be waiting for you with the belt. Understood?"

Harry just nodded.

"Good. Now get out!" Petunia pushed Harry out of the house and slammed the door behind him.

'Now I know this is real. My first day of school. I had to walk 3 miles and was late because I got lost. Vernon the vermin thrashed me good and proper when I got back. Bugger this. Time for a few changes.'

Harry threw out his hand and concentrated on the knight bus, hoping it would work.

A loud bang and a screech of tyres announced the busses arrival.

"Welcome to the knight bu… hello kid. You alright?"

Harry forced a frightened look on his face "I'm scared! Where's Mummy!" and started to pretend to cry.

"Hey…c'mon little mate…What's your name? Where do you live?"

"I'm Harry, I live at home with Mummy." 'I might as well act like a kid.'

"Yes, but where is home? Do you know what town you live in?"

"N…n…no. I'm losted!" he wailed, pretending to sob harder.

"Look, do you know your floo address?"

Harry nodded, still acting scared.

"Ok, how about you come for a ride on the bus and we can take you to somewhere with a floo. That sound alright?" the conductor said with a smile. He hated to see lost kids but this happened a few times a month so he was used to it.

"Ok. Thanks mister."

'If I go to the Leaky Cauldron then I can get to the bank and start working things out from there. It's a start.'

"Climb on up and let's get going. Sit here and hold on tight kid. You're going to love this."

And with a muffled bang they were off.

A short time later they pulled up at the famous magical pub.

"Ok there, Harry? This is the place I told you about. Just go in and use the fireplace to get home. See you when you're a bit older."

"Thanks mister. Bye." Called Harry, running through the door.

* * *

Once inside he went through to the back door and waited for someone to open the portal. It opened from the inside so Harry went through unnoticed and made his way to Gringotts.

Walking up the steps he quickly planned his approach. 'Simple and to the point should work' he thought.

Harry was shocked when a goblin stepped in front of him and bowed lowly. "Sir, would you please step this way? We have been expecting you and have much to discuss."

'What the heck?' Thought Harry following the goblin.

"In here thank you sir. Someone will be with you in a moment." And the goblin bowed his way out the door.

'Alright…this is really strange.' Harry thought looking around the office.

"Mr Potter, thank you for coming. I have a guest here who can explain what has been happening." Said a goblin as he walked into the room. A tall figure cloaked in a shocking pink glittery robe entered the room behind him.

In a rather effeminate voice the stranger began to speak. "Hellooo possum. Harry, I can call you Harry can't I? I am commonly called the Grim Reaper. You can call me Billy. Before you ask I have a few answers for you. Don't ask me where the black cloak came from, or the scythe, I have never used either. Binky was a good horse but he passed on years ago. Pink is what I wear most of the time, green is good too. Anyway this is about you. You were poisoned by your former wife Ginerva and when I came to collect you I thought to give you a chance without the poison potion princesses interfering. It wasn't just you they potioned, but Arthur Weasley, Hermione Granger and Lavender Brown as well. It is time to set things right."

A confused Harry thought for a moment. 'Binky the horse? Huh…' "Okay… let me see if I have this right. Ginny poisoned me. She and her mum, I am guessing, have been using love potions on many people and you want to set things right so I have to live my life again to do it. Did I miss anything?"

"Nope that sounds about right darling. The twit of a brother of hers is no prize either. He was the one to potion the Brown girl and then Granger. He only wanted Granger so you couldn't have her. He knew she only loved you. Not to mention how all three of those Weasels stole from you regularly. But we need to start small. This is what we need to do…"

A few hours and some disturbing laughter later Harry emerged from the bank. He was now the head of his family and had the evidence to call for a trial for his godfather. 'That will be a change. I wonder how Sirius will be as a dad.'

* * *

Harry flooed to the ministry of magic and went straight to Amelia Bones's office. Unfortunately, her secretary didn't want to bother her boss with a kid. It took ten minutes of talking, followed by five minutes of shouting, before Madam Bones opened her door to see what was happening.

'This should be good' she thought to herself. 'Kids are good for a laugh here. Of course, I only laugh after they have gone home. Hmm…Did his parents tried to make him eat his vegetables? Or his sister made him wear a dress and make-up to a tea party?'

"If the young man is so insistent then I will give him a few minutes. Let him through." She ordered.

"Thanks lady." Harry said walking over to the door. He turned and looked at the secretary, "Told you she would see me. Neeh." He said, sticking his tongue out. 'Being a kid is fun'

Sitting in M. Bones's office Harry took a deep breath. "I am Lord Harry Potter. I was given my title today and I found out that Sirius Black, my dogfather, was in jail. Why is he there?"

"Lord Potter," said Amelia, who was rapidly trying to change her thoughts, 'this is serious stuff for a kid to bring up,' she thought, "He was convicted for betraying your family to You-know-who and killing thirteen people. He will be in pri…Did you mean that he is your godfather?" she finished quickly.

"That's what Daddy wrote on the bill thing. He said that someone called Peter had a big secret that he had to keep too. And he said I gets lots of good stuffs. Mr Ragnok read it to me and told me to come and tell you about it." Harry was really starting to have fun with this. "Oh and I was told to give you this" and he handed her a sealed envelope.

Quickly reading the note a white faced Amelia ran to the door and started shouting.

"I need the trial transcripts for Sirius Black, get me someone from the animagus registry, I need a lawyer and a child advocate here and get a healer in here. NOW PEOPLE!"

Aurors started running as fast as they could. Their boss was not someone to be kept waiting.

Several hour later things were starting to settle down. The lawyers found that Dumbledore had acted in the worst interests of Harry and was being arrested for child endangerment and illegal use of magic on muggles (three counts).

A team of Aurors was dispatched to Privet dve and quickly found and destroyed the curses that Dumbledore had placed on the family. Even without magical interference they wanted nothing to do with Harry, so arrangements were made for Harry to stay with the Longbottom family, as was written in his parents wills.

Sirius was brought in from Azkaban and was questioned under truth serum. He was quickly exonerated and a public announcement was made. He would spend a short time in hospital to counter the damages done by the dementors and the horrible living conditions in Azkaban. Sirius negotiated with Augusta Longbottom to take custody of Harry in a month's time. 2 growing boys were a bit too much for her to handle but Harry and Neville would be lifelong friends and consider themselves brothers.

A bounty was offered for the capture of Peter Pettigrew and pictures of him in his human and rat forms were published on the front of every newspaper and magazine. Every shop window had a wanted poster and leaflets were given out to all ministry employees.

* * *

A certain red haired ministry employee recognised the rat on the flier. That was Scabbers! He quickly ran the short distance to the Auror department. Quickly thinking he flooed his home and told his family to come through because he had a big surprise for them. Well, he wasn't lying. It just wasn't what they expected. They had been unknowingly harbouring a killer for the last four years!

After his family came in Arthur saw Percy holding his pet rat.

"Hello Weasley's. Percy can I have a look at Scabbers? He looks a bit off after the floo trip." Arthur said, trying to stay calm.

"Sure Dad." Said Percy, handing the trembling rat to his father.

"Stupify. Auror, get Amelia Bones will you?"

"Dad! What are you doing?" Cried Percy.

"Just sit down, all of you, and be quiet." Arthur said in a stern voice.

"Arthur you can't just do that to the children's pets! What …" Molly was cut off by the arrival of M. Bones and several Aurors.

"This is the rat you were telling me about?"

"Yes. Percy found it in the garden about four years ago."

"Let me take it now. Animus Revelio… Peter Pettigrew… There are a few questions I want to ask you" M. Bones smirked. "We will take care of this thing now. If you and your family can wait here a few minutes we will be back to take care of the reward Arthur earned today."

A short time (and several dung bombs in 'in' trays and stink pellets is tea mugs, the twins watched in awe at how Bill and Charley placed them and didn't get caught) later.

"Thank you for waiting. This is Healer Claire Beauchamp from St Mungo's. We just need to see that Pettigrew didn't harm any of you." Said M. Bones.

"That really isn't necessary." Said a flustered Molly. "We are all perfectly fine. No need to bother a healer."

"I'm sorry but it is standard procedure. Arthur, you first."

Healer Beauchamp waived her wand at Arthur. "M. Bones, a word."

The two women quickly conferred behind a privacy spell.

"No spell damage but Mr Weasley is showing signs of long term love potion exposure. Unless I get a sample of his blood I cannot tell who it was keyed to."

"Thanks. Can you test the others?"

The women returned. "Arthur. We are getting some strange readings. Could you give a blood sample please? I will do the tests in front of you and will destroy it after we get the results. That alright?" Asked the healer.

"Fine. Go ahead."

A quick test and the Aurors surrounded Molly.

"Arthur, I am sorry but you are positive for long term love potion abuse keyed to Molly. The law is clear and we must arrest her."

A half hour later.

"Arthur. After questioning Molly we have found that she deliberately dosed you continuously since your 7th year at school and the amounts were approaching toxic levels. We also found that she has signed a marriage contract for your daughter Ginerva to Harry Potter. It was signed the day after James and Lilly died. It is going to get worse I am afraid." M. Bones told Arthur sadly. "We have evidence that Molly was brainwashing Ginny to only want to be with Harry Potter and to make her do anything in order to get him to marry her and for Molly to get the Potter vaults. Because of the contract she has been emptying half of the trust vault each year. We are trying to trace the money now."

What am I going to do now?" Arthur asked tiredly.

"Try not to think too much about all this tonight. Look to the children and help them through this and it just might help you. You know to floo me if you need me, and I am saying this as a friend not as Head of the DMLE."

"Thanks. You know, I remember before the potions happened, I was going to ask you to marry me. I had the ring picked out and was saving to buy it for you."

"I know. Your sister Alice had a big mouth. She told me she couldn't wait until we really became sisters that summer. I worked it out from there."

Arthur laughed. "I should have known better than to tell her. Oh well. We still have a friendship, and that counts for a lot. Thanks again Millie."

"You're welcome."

* * *

The next day.

"Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore. 3 counts of using long term magic on muggles, disregarding of the will of the Head of an Ancient and Noble House, child endangerment and attempted line theft of an Ancient and Noble House. How do you plead?" Asked Griselda Marchbanks.

"Not guilty. Everything I have done is for the Greater Good!" Albus pompously exclaimed.

The trial continued quickly. The only answers Albus would give was "It was for the Greater Good".

"Albus, you have been found guilty of all charges. You are sentenced to a minimum of seventy five years and a maximum of one hundred and ten years in Azkaban. We, the Wizengamot, find that this sentence is for the Greater Good! Take him away!"

* * *

A short time later…

"Molly Marsha Prewitt Weasley, you are charged with line theft of a Minor House, attempted line theft of an Ancient and Noble House, attempted murder by means of love and lust potion of the Heir of a Minor House, theft, attempted theft and fraud. How do you plead?"

"Not guilty."

Several long and emotionally exhausting hours later…

"With the evidence shown, and your own testimony under the effects of Veritaserum, you, Molly Marsha Prewitt Weasley, have been found guilty of all charges. We no longer have capital punishment or otherwise you would be sent through the veil of Death. You are sentenced to a minimum of one hundred years in Azkaban with a maximum of two hundred years. All of your minor children are given into the sole custody of Mr Arthur Weasley."

* * *

A heart sore Arthur needed closure. This wasn't the woman he fell in love with… did he ever fall in love with her? Or was it all a potion made lie. He had to know. He was granted a 5 minute interview with her before she was taken away.

"Did you ever love me?"

"Not really. You were the only one that the potions worked on well enough in your seventh year. It took you away from that Bones chit so that made it worthwhile to me. I was hoping to get Lucius Malfoy but he was sent to the hospital wing when I gave him the potion."

Arthur was beyond all measures of furious. He quickly made a decision.

"Molly Marcia Prewitt. I hear by divorce you and cast you from any and all mention in the family grimoire. Your name shall be cursed by all Weasley's in good standing. So I have said, so mote it be!"

* * *

Later that night at the Burrow.

The Weasley children were trying to understand what had happened that day.

"Why Dad? Why did you get rid of mum?" Asked Percy

"Because she never loved me and only used you kids to try and hurt other people."

"What happens now?" asked Charley as they broke from the embrace.

"We get on with our lives and I try to raise you lot to be nothing like the woman who birthed you."

Several months later a wedding was being held at the Burrow. Arthur was marrying his first love, Amelia Bones. She would go on to have 2 children with Arthur and be a wonderful mother to all the Weasley children who helped Arthur to undo the damage that she-who-will-not-be-named had caused.

* * *

268 years later.

"Hello Possum! How did you like your life this time around?" Asked Billy.

"Much better thanks. No potions, people I know cared for me and a chance to just be myself." Replied Harry. "Time to go is it?"

"Yes, time to reunite with your loved ones. You might want to know that your one change, leaving your aunts house that day, has affected so many families that all of Heaven is rejoicing at the love and souls the that fallout from that one event created."

With his last breath he knew that while life was short, love would be eternal.

* * *

The end.


End file.
